Stored Drinking water (good, light, temperature, natural)

[emilybh]

Is there a definitive number of days it lasts? I've read everything from 2 days to one year. If it can be stored long than a few days, doesn't it have to be treated and filtered again?

I know that leaving a glass of filtered water out for more than a few days causes slime to form at the bottom of the glass. It makes me wonder about people who get huge tanks of drinking water delivered that sit for days. How clean is that?

I filter all of my drinking water through a point of use system and use it right after it is filtered. It doesn't sit around.

So what is the verdict? Also, how should it be stored?

[Nor'Eastah]

We store tap water in 32-gallon (new) trash containers lined with food-grade clear plastic liners. We add a couple teaspoons of fresh bleach to water, then seal the inner bag and place the barrel tops on. We keep them in our basement where they won't freeze. They will be fine after many years, for washing and general cleaning (including showering), and also for filtering through the Big Berkey for cooking and drinking use. If water is kept in a dark container, chlorinated, and fairly cool, it doesn't "grow" anything for a long, long time. I'm talking at least 5 years. It may need to be 'oxygenated' for best taste, but water is water, and if it's clean it will stay that way unless the packing is compromised. This is just the way we do it.

[SCGranny]

Raised in 'hurricane country' we have always stored our water in unrinsed, unscented-bleach bottles. Empty a bleach bottle, fill it up, store it in a dark cool place. We had over 100 gallon bottles when we moved - and the water in the oldest bottle in the back was still sweet, unslimed, and didn't taste of bleach.

When we moved here we started a new collection, even though water here is pure and abundant. We store water as a temporary resource; not as a reliable and sole, ongoing source. If the pump goes out or something fails, we won't do without until we get things restarted.

We use the bleach bottles because they are cheap, we buy them anyway, and they will store water for years - because they are made to store a caustic substance for years. They are also less obvious/more easily hidden in plain sight than big water-storage barrels; no one but we know what's in them, tucked away in the dark under the basement stairs.

The reason even filtered water gets slime when it is left out is due to a number of factors; everything from leftover dishwashing soap on the glass reacting to the latent chemicals/organics in the water, to ambient air temperature, humidity, and airborne particles that 'fall' in. Sunshine and warmth causes water to evaporate, and leave the minerals present in the water in higher concentration in the glass. In SC, open water always developed algae growth, even water from a spring would have algae on the edges. Here, where it is dry and there are fewer growing things in the water, our troughs stay clear to the bottom, winter and summer.

[hueyeats]

^^^Great idea! Thanks SCGranny for the tip.

[MissingAll4Seasons]

I've used cistern water in several different setups. In general, if the water is filtered of large debris; covered to eliminate/reduce evaporation and contamination by pollen, pests and sunlight; and didn't contain toxins or subsequently exposed to toxins, it was perfectly viable "forever". You might get some algae/slime on the top and sides of the cistern and some sediment on the bottom; but the bulk of the water was still clean enough for general purposes and could be made potable with bleach, peroxide or boiling. The buried cisterns filled by groundwater tended to have less muck in them, and only needed to be emptied & scrubbed or chemically shocked maybe once a decade; above ground tanks that were primarily rainwater maybe every 5 years (because of pollen/spores mostly).

The only water that ever "went bad" to the point where it couldn't be made potable at all and probably wasn't safe enough for general purposes was contaminated with a toxin (benzene). Toxins are my major concern with surface water collection, and to some extent rainwater, and some rarely groundwater (like naturally occurring arsenic). Water can be rendered safe of most organic flotsam and beasties via simple settling, filtration and purification prior to consumption -- rest, strain, boil.

Keep it or get it as clean as possible before storing it, seal it against biological contaminants in a non-leaching container if possible, and guard it against light infiltration and it should be fine for general use indefinitely... after all, aquifers are really just huge natural cisterns

[emilybh]

Originally Posted by MissingAll4Seasons

I've used cistern water in several different setups. In general, if the water is filtered of large debris; covered to eliminate/reduce evaporation and contamination by pollen, pests and sunlight; and didn't contain toxins or subsequently exposed to toxins, it was perfectly viable "forever". You might get some algae/slime on the top and sides of the cistern and some sediment on the bottom; but the bulk of the water was still clean enough for general purposes and could be made potable with bleach, peroxide or boiling. The buried cisterns filled by groundwater tended to have less muck in them, and only needed to be emptied & scrubbed or chemically shocked maybe once a decade; above ground tanks that were primarily rainwater maybe every 5 years (because of pollen/spores mostly).

The only water that ever "went bad" to the point where it couldn't be made potable at all and probably wasn't safe enough for general purposes was contaminated with a toxin (benzene). Toxins are my major concern with surface water collection, and to some extent rainwater, and some rarely groundwater (like naturally occurring arsenic). Water can be rendered safe of most organic flotsam and beasties via simple settling, filtration and purification prior to consumption -- rest, strain, boil.

Keep it or get it as clean as possible before storing it, seal it against biological contaminants in a non-leaching container if possible, and guard it against light infiltration and it should be fine for general use indefinitely... after all, aquifers are really just huge natural cisterns

You get a big dose of benzene every time you drink a hot beverage from a styrofoam cup. Also the Corexit BP sprayed during the Gulf Oil disaster was loaded with it. I've avoided styrofoam cups like the plague since I learned about that decades ago.

I guess I wouldn't mind storing it if I had a reliable way to filter out all of the chlorine and organic chemicals when I was ready to use it. I'm not so sure Berkey can really handle all of it though. It seems a little primitive and the charcoal bed doesn't seem dense enough to remove enough chlorine and organic chemicals. It seems like it might only be a few steps above a Brita filter people have in their fridge for drinking water.

I guess you guys who are using unorthodox plastic containers don't mind about BPA and other chemicals that might leach in to the water over time.

Does anyone use Mylar for liners? They seem pretty good and BPA free to boot.

I suppose nobody with a well has to get too worried about storing water....
although you can't count on that 100% either (probably).

[MissingAll4Seasons]

Our indoor water tank (no running water yet) is BPA-free polyethylene. When we get our well, the buried cistern will most likely be the same only larger. People with wells often have to worry about water storage because 1) your peak demand may exceed your gpm flow rate, 2) you don't want to cycle your pump every time you turn on a tap, and 3) pumps and wells can freeze up in winter.

The only non-reactive/non-leaching substances for long term storage of purified water would be glass (which breaks, is heavy and is expensive) and stainless steel (which could be coated, is heavy and is expensive). I think that any BPA=free, food safe plastic container or liner (including mylar/metalized plastic) is safe enough for most circumstances.

Most beasties and contaminants can be filtered with a low tech combination of sand, charcoal and ceramics; with purification/disinfection via boiling or chemical shock. If you're worried about VOCs in your water in a non-electric world, you purify your water through distillation with either a solar or standard stills (standard stills can use a lot of fuel though). More info and ideas here.

If you want to store purified water long term, you can purchase canned emergency water with a 30= year shelf-life. You can even home-can your own purified/filtered water in glass bottles/jars and untreated steel cans using a boiling water bath or pressure canner (untreated cans may be hard to find). Some people recommend concentrated colloidal silver instead of bleach for storing purified and filtered water long term.

[Nor'Eastah]

Originally Posted by emilybh

I guess you guys who are using unorthodox plastic containers don't mind about BPA and other chemicals that might leach in to the water over time.

We cetainly do worry about BPA. That's why we line the plastic Rubbermaid barrels with clear poly that is USDA approved. Nothing from the Rubbermaid barrels gets into the water as it does not contact the water.

Besides, most of what we store is for washing and cleaning purposes. In a real emergency, though, we would have no hesitation about drinking this stuff after putting through the Big Berkey. I find that most people who criticize British Berkfield products, are people who don't own them.

In a real emergency, having clean, pathogen-free drinking water available is a life-saver, even if (a big "if") it somehow got BPA traces in it. After all, we all drank that stuff for many years without even knowing about it. Now, everybody is squeamish about trace elements. Good grief!

[MissingAll4Seasons]

Originally Posted by Nor'Eastah

In a real emergency, having clean, pathogen-free drinking water available is a life-saver, even if (a big "if") it somehow got BPA traces in it. After all, we all drank that stuff for many years without even knowing about it. Now, everybody is squeamish about trace elements. Good grief!

I've said it before, but people don't seem to realize that you can't be precious about your necessities in a survival situation, especially not a long-term survival situation. You don't have the luxury of choice, other than attempt to live or accept death. You do what you can to have an adequate supply of safe food and water, and it's best if you have some amount of purified supply stocked up and some method for rendering new stuff safe.

Seriously, if your options are die of dehydration, drink minimally filtered & boiled water, or drink slimy glowing water... you're going to drink one of the waters, and the minimally filtered and boiled water is probably the safer option. You won't be worried about some trace elements that may have leached into a storage vessel of otherwise clean water when your other accessible water sources (if there are any) smell like sewage and have things crawling in them.

[Wilson513]

Water is safely treated with a few drops of chlorine bleach per gallon. The 40,000 gallons in my back yard pool stays nice and clear over the entire winter with drinking safe chlorine levels at probably 10 times what it takes to store filtered water in a basement jug.